


Tables Turned

by heeroluva



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: M/M, Tarsus IV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-04
Updated: 2011-06-04
Packaged: 2017-10-20 02:44:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/207930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heeroluva/pseuds/heeroluva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being smart is not all it's cracked up to be. Spock shows Jim otherwise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tables Turned

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jaune-chat](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=jaune-chat).



> Contains: smart!Jim, strong/aggressor!Spock, Tarsus IV

Jim had always been smart, too smart. He’d learned early on that teacher did not like being corrected and that it didn’t matter if he was right. It didn’t matter if he got one hundred percent on everything because they just accused him of cheating. It didn’t take him long to get bored and stop trying. He dumbed himself down for them. School was filled with boredom, which led to mischief and ultimately got him sent to see the principal. After school was when he could be himself, learn at his pace. His brother’s material hadn’t presented much of a challenge, and it wasn’t long before he was registered for online university classes, conveniently hacking into his mother’s account to pay for them.

It was his brains that got him shipped to Tarsus IV, that hellhole of a planet. That was what changed everything. He didn’t want it anymore. That’s when the real trouble started, the problems with the law, underage drinking to try and forget, to shut off his memories and brain, but it was never enough.

It wasn’t until he was older that he found out that he had an eidetic memory. It was an archaic word, a concept that was hard to prove, but Jim had it, and wasn’t about to admit it. He was enough of a freak as it was, and he knew better than to show his skills, instead preferring to hide behind the mask of troublemaker, so no one would know how different he really was. No one ever looked deeper than that.

At least not until Pike.

Jim hadn’t planned on accepting the invitation to join Starfleet, but he was impulsive, and it was on an impulse that he joined. He’d been stupid to think it was going to be any different there. Sure there were other geniuses there, but none as high as his. It was bad enough to live in his father’s shadow. He didn’t want to add freakishly smart to the list as well.

Bones saw through it he knew, wanted him to quit playing, but he couldn’t, didn’t know how, had been doing it for far too long. The Kobayashi Maru had quickly become his obsession. Nothing was unbeatable and he wasn’t about to be beat by a machine. When he saw the code he fell in love. It was the most perfect thing he’d ever seen, seamless and beautiful, a true masterpiece. He almost felt bad for what he going to do to it.

Almost.

Jim was shocked then when the creator, a Vulcan—he should have known—accused him of cheating.

Spock hadn’t turned out to be anything like the mystery programmer that Jim had dreamed up in his mind, or so he thought. It wasn’t until later after Nero, after they saved the Earth and lost Vulcan, while they were on their five year mission that Jim realized he’d been wrong in his initial evaluation of the Vulcan. It was an odd feeling and not particularly pleasant.

Unsure of how to approach his reserved First Officer, Jim was happy to learn that he played chess. He was also happy that when he asked Spock if he was up for a game, he quickly agreed. It came as a shock to him when it was Spock that kissed him, Spock that became the aggressor in the relationship, so counter to how Jim had imagined Spock would be. It wasn’t bad or unwelcomed, just different.

Jim reveled in it, the freedom that their friendship and relationship offered him. Spock did not truly understand his need to hide, to keep part of himself away from others.

However, Spock did seem to understand Jim’s needs more than Jim understood them himself. The knowledge that Spock could break him at any instant should have scared him, but instead it just spurred him on, made him hotter with the knowledge, the rush of the thrill of it. Nothing had prepared him for his relationship was Spock. It was a wild ride, testing so many preconceived notions, and teaching him a lot. It was completely unexpected. Nonetheless, Spock still said he cheated, but Jim knew that he just liked to argue, and he was fine with that.


End file.
